Monday, November 26, 2007

Game day has finally arrived and a light rain has covered the city streets. However, the weather could not have been nicer last night as the team and staff attended a private function at the beautiful Cafe Sydney which is set in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge.

This event served as the official prelude to the game with players from both teams, sponsors and other VIPs in attendance. Of the famous faces who we recognized in attendance were Monty Python great Eric Idle who was seen chatting with Ruud Gullit, Sydney FC owner and the goalkeeper for Hollywood United, Anthony LaPaglia, former Olympic swimmer and Australian hero Ian Thorpe (The Thorpedo) who is now an executive with Foxtel, as well as MTV and MySpace star Tila Tequila who was in town to promote the launch of her MTV series, "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila", as well as many others.

But the one person who left everybody speechless was none other than the one and only Elton John. In town for an upcoming show, John was in high spirits interacting with all the Galaxy players, including his longtime friend David Beckham.

After spending just more than an hour at the event, the players, who all arrived at the party in white limousines, wearing their Hugo Boss suits to walk down a red carpet that housed more than a thousand screaming fans and a huge collection of Australian media, returned to the hotel to get some rest ahead of tonight's game.

However, just because this was a very classy event that was held 24 hours before kickoff, that did not stop some of the players from messing around. One of the first limos to pull up carried Alan Gordon, Peter Vagenas, Chris Albright, Josh Tudela, Carlos Pavon and Edson Buddle. Once the car came to a stop a few of the guys told Edson, who was seated next to the window, to start getting out of the car, however, once he did, the car door was shut and locked behind him leaving an embarrassed Edson left on his own outside with all of the security and event personnel.

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One of Major League Soccer's original clubs, the LA Galaxy play their home games at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. A two-time winner of both the MLS Cup (2002 and 2005) and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2001 and 2005), the Galaxy boast a strong and rich history in MLS and around the world. With a roster that features stars like David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle and more under the eye of general manager and head coach Bruce Arena, the Galaxy will look to return to the pinnacle of MLS in 2010.